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Barence writes "It's rare that Dell breaks new ground in terms of design, but the new Dell Inspiron Duo changes all that, according to PC Pro. First revealed at IDF earlier this year, the Dell netbook has a screen that swivels in its own lid, turning the Windows 7 device into a tablet. 'The Duo's relatively modest premium over a high-end netbook buys you the touchscreen and slick conversion to the tablet format, as well as full Windows 7 and a decent hard drive. If you were thinking about buying either a netbook or a tablet, the Duo does both, though it doesn't do the tablet bit as well as an iPad,' PC Pro's reviewer, Jack Schofield, concludes."

Actually, Dell also has a division for real products... I haven't yet used a Dell Precision series device I didn't like. Hell, objectively they're nearly on par with Thinkpads, and all that keeps me from buying one is personal preference...

De Plane! De Plane!
I have seen ads for this before and have yet to figure out how it's significantly different from my 4 year-old Fujitsu LifeBook. Oh, wait, it's not as expandable or capable as my LifeBook.

Actually there was a convertible from the 90's that used essentially the same mechanism although it didn't carry the outer frame around to the front/top of the screen. I can't remember who made it though.

I had the tx2000z for close to 3 years(mobo burned out last month) and it was an awesome machine once you got ubuntu configured on it right. It came with vista and that lasted long enough to download an iso and burn it. Unless they've made significant changes to the tablet control software, it's still going to suck, even having to compile the touchscreen module and update the input devices on every kernel release in ubuntu, it was still better than the windows offering.

The HP also breaks if you look at it wrong, wherein you'll be directed to some Indian customer support person who only knows how to read off of a prefab list of problems, charge your credit card several hundreds of dollars and never actually fix anything.

I wonder... could you run Android in a virtual machine for use as a tablet and Windows 7 or Ubuntu for when you're using it as a laptop? Trying to combine the two form factors is always going to be tricky, given how unwieldy either UI is going to be when using it in the opposite mode. Unless someone comes out with a way to easily switch between the different UI styles as well as the hardware styles I think this is a non-starter.

There are already touchscreen netbooks, so some people have already been working to get Ubuntu working on them [ubuntuforums.org]. I think they've tackled a lot of the driver problems, but I imagine that any new hardware like this is going to have its own set of driver issues to tackle (and no manufacturer support). As for Android in a virtual machine, I think you'd just have to run the Android emulator in Eclipse?

something like Win7 on Xen?As for Android, it's just Google's private branch of the Linux kernel. If they upstreamed more of that into the standard tree switching between android and your favourite desktop distro would be trivial. Hardware sensors detect a 'swivel' and hey presto the UI switches to X11.Google's app store might only currently cater to ARM based phones but as Apple have done with an osx store, there'd be a market for x86 tablet apps too.

This is exactly what I want in a tablet. This is the biggest turnoff for me with the iPad, being chained to iOS.

What's important is that a proper interface is running on the device. That was the biggest problem with tablets from 5-8 years ago. They were running straight Windows XP which made for a clumsy experience. But on the other hand, the OS made those tablets quite useful and a viable alternative to a laptop.

What's important is that a fluid experience is offered when you're using the device as a tablet

Sure, out of the box it's not perfect. But it's easily customizable (as in, built-in settings) to make it better: larger icons, fonts, etc. (as a proportion of the screen) and the like. At the resolution this netbook runs, it should be quite usable.

In all actuality, Win7 can be customized to work almost identically to how the Maemo 4 UI works. That's a win for me, personally - the Maemo 4 UI is (IMO) one of the quickest usable UIs I've used for a mobile.

Sure, out of the box it's not perfect. But it's easily customizable (as in, built-in settings) to make it better: larger icons, fonts, etc. (as a proportion of the screen) and the like. At the resolution this netbook runs, it should be quite usable.

Think single-mouse-button, and the mocking we all of Macs because of it.

That's what we have on a touchscreen - a single mouse button design, and wierd hacks to make it actually support middle and right-clicks. Or just righ

I had some reservations about that but then saw in the video demo that there is a change in the UI once you flip from laptop to tablet mode. Instead of Windows Explorer, it changes into a simpler screen with half a dozen large buttons to start a different set of applications. Makes sense. Your word processor is best used with the keyboard and mouse, your photo album can be used comfortably with the touchscreen.I like this Dell a lot. I hope it is successful and they start making them with normal laptop comp

I've played with numerous touch based interfaces for years, everything from Wacom on OS X to iOS to Linux kiosks to Android devices to WebOS. I also have done a lot of work as a user interface and usability designer and tester. In my experience, pretty much all of them are superior to Windows 7 for tablets. It's just painful trying to do normal tasks clearly using a hacked on interface that none of the applications have been properly tested and engineered for. Even old versions of MacOS with a tablet at lea

Only a computer geek who has no grasp of what the larger demographic wants would think this. The fact is that the iPad is selling well (4th quarter projections of 15-20 million) because a huge amount of people, who obviously aren't you, really like to use it.

I've been thinking about this and came to a conclusion: it has less buttons. Normal people don't like buttons. An Ipad has 105 less buttons than a computer, so it should sell like icecream on a summer day

You're wrong. Tablets will get thinner and lighter, and you'll dock them with keyboards (wirelessly) and larger monitors when you need to. Fewer and fewer people will see the need to buy a desktop or laptop computer.

You're wrong. Tablets will get thinner and lighter, and you'll dock them with keyboards (wirelessly) and larger monitors when you need to. Fewer and fewer people will see the need to buy a desktop or laptop computer.

Yep, because the people that make free open software have their heads up their arses over what most people want from their computing devices. And they certainly seem to lack broad vision about where this is all going in terms of user interaction.

Bingo. If I look at my home computing needs, my iPad basically does everything I need with a dock for a full keyboard. If I didn't need to fire up Netbeans every once in a while and dive into code, it would a replacement for my work computer as well. I have a Mac Mini hooked up to the TV mainly as a media center to watch iTunes movies and shows.

Wrong. Cellphone will get larger and thiker and you will dock them on your tablet, wich will get thinner and lighter, wich you will dock on your netbook, wich will get thicker and heavier and you will... oh crap. I lost myself

I know that all the "people in the know" say we all only want a 10inch and bigger tablet, but not me. Part of my daily work has me dealing with the iPad and other tablets. I can say that i just dont enjoy the larger formfactor of the iPad. Sure, it is better for web browsing, I will certainly admit that, but I just hate to carry it around.For me, I want something about the size of the playbook from RIM. It will still fit in my suit coat pocket or nicely in a hand bag if you are a lady. It's perfect size for

I agree with a lot of that, except the stylus for writing. I can write faster on an iPad than I can with a stylus on glass (or even on paper, if I'm honest). I was hoping the iPad would come in a 7" model.

Totally agree about the sharing. Physical location is something developers have been ignoring for far too long. I frequently email people documents, even though they're in the same damn room! It's ridiculous.

Is there a distro of Linux that is designed specifically for multi-touch tablet interfacing?

One of the greatest points of the iOS devices is that their apps are designed for multi-touch input from the ground up. It would be great to see this idea put onto Linux... multi-touch interfaces built on the same libraries as the keyboard/mouse interfacing apps.

I guess the underlying questions are are there any GUIs that are being developed for linux with multi-touch for the primary input? And are there any librar

Without something like that I fear that the open alternatives to iOS will drag on and on in half-baked form, never successfully challenging the consistent experience you get on iOS.

Well, there's MeeGo. The biggest thing is making sure that X11 can register and report multitouch events to applications, support for which is coming up rapidly. Of course, multitouch is a patent minefield with Apple patenting certain gestures (!).

Nothing in Android will be of value since it's all Android-specific interfaces.

Yes, Meego [meego.com] is specifically designed for smaller screens and has a touch based interface design from the start. It works with current Dell netbooks [meego.com] which probably share a lot with the Duo.

I can see this as a potential win if you really need a keyboard for some things, but would want the tablet factor for others. This might have been on my wish list last year before I purchased an acer mini-laptop (11.6" Timeline), save for the weak processor.

I'm torn, as the specks make it look pretty weak for running full Win7, and experience tells me that the touch interface with Windows is going to be a real bear. Still, the dock and ease of having a keyboard for "work" or slate for couch surfing might be nice.

I guess it will come down to the software, which is where it will ultimately fail. What makes the iPad/Android Tablets so useful is the finger-centric UI. It's what I hated about the older windows phones (which were built for a stylus and very difficult to manipulate with a fat finger).

I have a convertible tablet pc and it is wonderful for replacing chalkboards. I have a wireless projector that I connect to and I run onenote. I can write on my tablet as I would on a board, only it is infinitely better that writing on a board. I have a full selection of colors and tools always ready. I can copy and paste. I can search through old notes as if they were typed. If the students are confused about something I wrote we can go back and check it (and see if I made a mistake - instead of getting in

Amateur. I do all of my presentations by having everyone crowd around my iPad. It gives the whole thing a more intimate feel, especially when I have 50 people jostling each other trying to see the screen.

You want me to use an archaic device like a projector? Copping a feel on the hot intern in Accounting is damn near impossible if you're not crammed around a tiny device straining to see what's going on. Think, man!

I know the guy who presented this convertible tablet originally. I've had conversations about the tablet market with him for two years. To summarise it went something like this:

Me: Dude, have you checked out the Tegra processor, and the iPhone touch screen technology? Dell could make a real splash here. You could probably get Canonicle to write a whole new touch interface for this thing for free. The killer app is an e-book reader that also does color In

True, but not every application supports projector output. The iPad doesn't simply duplicate the display; this features is enabled on a per app basis. So if you were hoping to display certain content from an app, you may be out of luck. However, apps like Keynote and Penultimate (recently) support this.

Order of magnitude price inflation --> rich punk. Or corporate shill, if you prefer. Or sucker who paid $29 for a $2 dongle.

Oh, and even with the dongle, the ability of the iPad to act as a presentation device is pretty damn limited due to some poor implementation and feature choices. It works to a very limited degree in very limited cases spoon-fed to you by Apple, and god help you if you needed to do something else. It doesn't play nice with others.

$29 is peanuts when you are talking about the corporate world and large presentations. They spend more than that just in printing out the handouts for the presentation, not to mention travel, hotel, meals, and other expenses. Corporate presentations can easily run into the thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars for large companies.

A one-time cost of $29 for a connector that will be used dozens of times a year? Yeah, it's chump change.

Every few days I go to a presentation that some hot shot decides to run off their iPad using that dongle. They almost always end up apologizing for attempting it when the refresh rate is poor, the color is off and there are update issues when you rotate the devices. Even iPad wielding (and loving) senior management have pretty much ceased using it as a presentation device if there is anything else available to use. Having said that, for a 2 or 3 person show around a desk, it still punches above its weight.

The macbook air costs over $500 and has a screen larger than 10 inches that means it is not a netbook. Manufacturers may redefine the term anyway they want, but the niche that the original netbooks filled was a small, cheap portable device.

While true, there are some things you leave out. First, notice the presenter view on the iPad. It displays slide number and.... well that's it. I'm used to the power point presenter view [cybernetnews.com], which displays the slide, your slide deck, notes, a timer, and drawing tools. For the iPad you have to constantly turn around to see the screen. Also you can't annotate the screen. These are seriously limitations to presentations.

Further, as I mentioned, VGA output is enabled on a per app basis. For example, you can't plug the iPad into a TV and watch shows using the ABC player, while this functionality is standard on any netbook with a web browser. For presentations, this means you can't open a web page to show your audience, a common enough task, as safari doesn't support VGA out.

So, while you assume the parent was referencing an inability to connect his iPad to a projector, he was actually alluding to the anemic presentation functionality it offers.

As a lecturer, I have a presentation every other day. I find my iPad is awful for them, as you can't annotate the slides. Further, developing presentations in iPad Keynote is an exercise in patience, while exporting from Power Point to keynote is a crapshoot, especially if you have complex animations. I resort to my trusty Dell Latitude XT for presentations. Even if it is heavier, it offers much more functionality.

No, he was talking about artwork and photos. The conversation would be more like:

Here's my portfolio.
-turns on the tablet and passes it around-

A flat surface is a lot easier for more than one person to look at and pass around than a laptop screen is, and the colors are a lot better represented on an tablet versus a projected image. Not all presentations need a projector - just the boring ones.

The innovation is the way it converts to a tablet, not the conversion itself. Rather than the whoe screen swiveling on a single point where it attaches to the body, it's held in a frame, and swiveled vertically.

It looks to be a bit more reliable and sturdy than the single swivel that's been done before.